My friend told me he recently bypassed his Honda Civic AC compressor after it went bad, and now mine has just died too. He's offered to help and look up some things for me, but he's busy and in the meantime I wish to better understand how this goes.
I am including below some information to help illustrate what I'm considering doing. Please let me know if there is anything I can add that will help further.
Here is my car info.
Here is a video of of my friend inspecting my Civic, suggesting I do what he did recently to his own Civic:
IMG_1810.mov
Here is a video of this being done on a Honda CRV.
The CRV belt used in the video (not the right size for my Civic)
Below is a diagram of how I might do this.
Notes from various mechanics I spoke with:
Part number is measurement 5K equals ridges and then number the whole length of the belt
Can go down in number by one ridge 5-15mm leeway with belt
Is my car a Manual tensioner or automatic? Note: usually manual is easier, and has more leeway (like 30mm)
Make sure if you use a smaller belt like a 6 rib, you leave your open rib the same all the way around so that the belt is not running funny.